Race crew recognized for rescue

Deepa Bharath

The Violetta de la Mare was nowhere close to winning the 66 Series

race that blustery March afternoon.

The seven-member crew was debating whether to abandon the race and

go back to shore. They decided that they should go ahead and finish

the race. They might not be able win the coveted trophy, but at least

they’d get some practice.

The boat was less than a mile off the coast of Huntington Beach

when one of the crew members, Dale Shrout, saw a man clinging on two

red cushions.

“It was fortunate that we actually spotted him in those weather

conditions,” said Roy Reineman, skipper of the boat.

The crew made an instant decision to pull out of the race and

rescue 71-year-old Charlie Negus, a man who had fallen off his kayak

in choppy waters.

The crew will receive a national award tonight at the Balboa Yacht

Club’s Annual Awards Dinner, said Ben Benjamin, the club’s race

director.

“The entire crew abandoned the race and went about rescuing this

man,” he said.

At the dinner, race-boat owner Anthony Delfino and the crew will

be awarded the Arthur B. Hanson medal by U.S. Sailing, the national

governing body for sailing in the United States, Benjamin said.

Negus had been the in the water for at least two hours, when

Delfino and his crew found him, Reineman said.

“He is an accomplished kayaker, and the weather just got

unexpectedly bad,” he said. “He seemed to be in better shape than any

of us.”

When the race started off of Newport Pier earlier that day, the

wind speed was at 5 to 6 knots. But by the afternoon, it was blowing

at 25 knots, Reineman said.

“The water was choppy, and we barely spotted Charlie,” he said.

“It was a lucky rescue.”

Once on board, crew members wrapped him with blankets and gave him

some water, Reineman said.

“We didn’t have anything else on the boat,” he said.

Negus was barely conscious and was unable to speak for about 20

minutes, Reineman said. A wave swamped him from behind and threw him

off the kayak, he said.

“He thought he could swim ashore,” Reineman said, based on what

Negus told him. “But the cold conditions probably sapped his energy.”

Negus could not be reached for comment on Friday.

Reineman said he is honored by the award, but it was something he

and his crew would have done anyway.

“I don’t look at it as a big, heroic act,” he said. “It was the

right thing to do.”